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Congress does not appreciate it: Alagiri on Stalin’s release request for convicts in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case
Tamil Nadu Congress chief KS Alagiri stated that if the accused are released by the court, then the party will accept it but no political pressure should be exerted for their release.
Tamil Nadu Congress chief KS Alagiri said on Friday that the party does not “appreciate” chief minister MK Stalin’s request to President Ram Nath Kovind to remit the life sentence awarded to the seven convicts for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi, and direct their immediate release
“We don't appreciate it,” Alagiri told news agency ANI.
Alagiri added that if the accused are released by the court, then the party will accept it but no political pressure should be exerted for their release.
“If the court wants to release an accused, then Congress will accept it. There should be no political pressure,” he added.
Stalin wrote to President Kovind on Thursday asking him to release the 7 convicts- Nalini Sriharan, Murugan, Santhan, AG Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, and P Ravichandran, who are serving life sentences in various prisons in Tamil Nadu for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur, on May 21, 1991.
Stalin told the President that a majority of the political parties and the people of Tamil Nadu are in favour of a remission of their life sentence and an immediate release.
“The majority of the political parties in Tamil Nadu have been requesting for the remission of the remainder of their sentence and for immediate release of all the seven convicts as they have been incarcerated for about three decades. It is also the will of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin wrote in his letter.
The demand for a release of all seven convicts was approved by the Tamil Nadu cabinet in 2018 through the passing of a unanimous resolution which was then sent to governor Banwarilal Purohit for his assent, who had taken the stand that the fate of the convicts should be decided by the President of India.
Nalini Sriharan, one of the accused, donated ₹5,000 to Stalin’s chief minister Public relief fund on Tuesday to aid the state’s fight against Covid-19. All seven convicts were members of the controversial outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and had been sentenced to death which was later reduced to a life sentence.
